Ukulele Video Lesson - Holding Back The Years (Simply Red)

Ukulele video lessons are a great way to learn how to play many different songs on the instrument. Having the visual guidance of someone who can teach you how to play and to help make sure you have the rhythm and style down right is important, and many people find it easier to learn than to try to decipher sheet music. You have a whole world of songs out there, but you probably want to learn something that’s familiar and that a lot of people enjoy. The band Simply Red has a number of popular songs that can lend themselves well to the ukulele including “Holding Back the Years.”

This ukulele video lesson is quite an emotional one

When he was just 17 years old, Mick “Red” Hucknall wrote “Holding Back the Years”. He was living at his father’s house at the time, and says that the inspiration for the song actually came from much earlier in his childhood. When he was three years old, his mother decided that she would leave the family. Naturally, this caused quite a bit of turmoil and confusion for young Mick. It was her leaving that inspired Mick to write the initial version of the song’s lyrics. It wasn’t until several years later that he came up with the chorus.

Mick wrote the music along with Neil Moss when the two of them were in a band called Frantic Elevators. He actually recorded the song without the chorus with Frantic Elevators in 1982. However, it did not see the massive success until it was recorded with Simply Red and then released in 1985. This song, along with the other strong songs on their first album, helped to propel the band into the spotlight.

Rose to the #1 spot on the charts!

The song was the seventh on their debut album called Picture Book. They put out the song as a single, and it still remains their most successful. It went all the way to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and it went to the number two spot on the UK singles chart. You can learn this popular song with a ukulele video lesson too, and you can be sure plenty of people are going to know it.

“Holding Back the Years” also went on to earn a nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the Grammy Awards. Simply Red were quite popular in the mid-80s and beyond, and they still have a massive fan base. A big part of the reason they were so popular was the success of this particular song. Their other big hit was called “If You Don’t Know Me by Now”, with which you are probably familiar. They did have some other hits as well.

Even though there may be a certain melancholy air to the song, which should be expected given the circumstances surrounding its creation, it sounds truly beautiful when you play it on ukulele. Once you start your ukulele video lesson for “Holding Back the Years”, you will find that you can break it down so it is easy to play. With a little bit of practice, you should not have any trouble getting the song down, and you will love how it sounds coming from your ukulele.

If you haven’t heard the song in a while, take the time to go and listen, and start to think about how it might sound when you use a ukulele for the chords. It’s a great song to have in your back pocket, and you are going to love playing it.